The Post’s editorial makes clear why the United States should move away from the government-managed approach:

“Countries are turning away from this statist model. Canada spun off its system, Nav Canada, in 1996, to a private entity funded by user fees. Britain privatized in 2000. Australia and New Zealand are also part of the movement; ditto Germany and Switzerland, lest anyone think it’s English-speaking nations only.”

If we want a more modern air traffic control system in the U.S., the only way to achieve that is through an independent, not-for-profit organization freed from the archaic procurement restrictions of the federal government and the endless budgetary battles.

The Post notes why the foreign models have worked so well:

“In all of these countries, safety and innovation have stayed the same or improved, which is not surprising, as the new model separates regulation from operation.”

This sensible approach will work well for Americans, too. It will help to reduce delays, improve efficiency, and fuel the economy – all while maintaining our nation’s enviable safety record.

In September 2014, one man wreaked havoc on the skies over the Midwest when he cut sensitive cables and set fire inside a suburban Chicago air traffic control operations facility. At that point, the lives of the passengers and crew in 135 jets were in critical danger. Here’s what the Chicago Tribune said about the extent of the damage caused by a disgruntled telecommunications contractor for the FAA:

“Among the new disclosures was that Howard cut cables at precisely the most sensitive spot, knocking out the backup telecommunications system in addition to the primary one. Radars went black. The automated handoff system to transfer control of planes to other facilities was down. Even ground-to-ground communications were wiped out.

“What followed was a controlled panic, as FAA controllers used cell phones and other backup devices to ground planes and turn back hundreds of others about to enter Chicago’s airspace. The contingency plan worked — no planes were lost and no one was reported injured. But severe damage had been done.

“‘There has never been an outage of the resulting magnitude like the outage (Howard) caused by attacking the Chicago Center,’ prosecutors said in asking a federal judge to sentence him next month to 13 years in prison.”

The Chicago Center houses equipment that “provides critical voice and data communications that support air traffic operations at FAA facilities nationwide,” according to an investigation conducted by the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Transportation. For two weeks following the fire, thousands of flights in and out of O’Hare and Midway airports were delayed or canceled. American, Southwest and United airlines have hubs in Chicago, which is the nation’s third busiest airspace, and aviation stakeholders reported a loss of more than $350 million.

The IG’s report provided 24 essential recommendations and noted, “The damage to Chicago Center highlighted weakness in FAA’s current air traffic control infrastructure, which has limited flexibility to respond to system failures and facilitate the return to normal operations.” This situation is a powerful argument in favor of ATC reform for efficiency and to maximize safety. Ten years and $6 billion ago, the FAA began efforts to modernize the Air TrafficControl (ATC) system through NextGen, but we’re still waiting for that to fully come online. When the unthinkable happens – system failure, sabotage, terrorism – a resilient system is absolutely necessary. What we need to do is restructure ATC under a not-for-profit entity, removing this 24/7 technology and service provider from the political and financial pressures of the federal budget cycle. This is how we will ensure the reliable funding needed to make the technological transformations.

Crain’s New York Business has recently been a hotbed of writings between advocates for restructuring air traffic control and those who defend the busted status quo. In mid-December, executives from American, JetBlue, Southwest and United airlines penned a thoughtful commentary on how restructuring ATC would relieve congestion in the skies over New York City. Noting that New York’s airports are “consistently ranked among the nation’s top-five most-delayed airports for years,” they urged adoption of a modernized system to be overseen by an independent, not-for-profit organization. Stating that obvious that such a switch will present challenges, they made the trenchant point that “doing nothing is certain to perpetuate a flawed system that is increasingly frustrating and costly both to airlines and our passengers.”(more…)